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WEB DEVELOPMENT: SPANISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM WEB SITE

Featured ATL Patron
Ali Miano
Lecturer in Spanish and Coordinator
Spanish Language Program
http://spanlang.stanford.edu

Project Description

I wanted to build a comprehensive website for the Spanish Language Program to illustrate the scope and significance of our program's ambitious objectives. The purpose of the site would be to serve as an information resource for prospective students and as a study guide for the current students in the program. The site content covers a wide variety of topics: study materials used in each program track, language skills students are expected to acquire, learning tools, program goals and policies, instructor information, course offerings, and further resources for language study.

The Process

The first meeting with an ATL web specialist helped define the site development priorities: clarity, accessibility, and ease of maintenance. The initial step of the project was thus to design a navigation model for the site that would ensure quick and easy access to the viewers' topics of interest and allow for future expansion of the site without having to make drastic changes to the navigation menu. I organized the information by program track/year. That would allow students to find their specific track and view details pertaining to that track.

When the content was ready, I had to learn to use Macromedia Dreamweaver to transfer it, and then to manage and update the site. The process consisted of taking a few hours of beginner tutorials with an ATL specialist, followed by hands-on training and practice sessions in which I worked directly with the site files. After about two weeks of the training I was able to maintain and update the site on my own.

The Outcome

The result was an informative, cross-browser compatible, user-friendly site that is easy to maintain and navigate. See spanlang.stanford.edu.

Lessons Learned

How to put together, update and troubleshoot a website in Macromedia Dreamweaver.

Future Projects at the ATL

Eventualy I would like to update the site with audio and video language samples.